How to say "keffiyeh" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaningkeffiyeh
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
كُوفِيَّة
kūfiyyaכופיה
كوفية
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
כאפייה
kafiyaكَافِيَا
How the two words are related
Loanword
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
Named for the Iraqi city of al-Kūfa, where the checkered weave supposedly originated. Israeli Hebrew borrowed kūfiyya whole, as כאפייה — no root gymnastics needed, just a direct loan for a garment every Hebrew speaker already recognizes.
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On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
كُوفِيَّة
kūfiyyeכופיהSpelling stays the same; the final tāʾ marbūṭa just softens from -a to -e in speech, like most feminine nouns.
In a phrase
كُوفِيَّة فِلَسْطِينِيَّة
kūfiyya filasṭīniyyaכופיה פלסטיניהa Palestinian keffiyeh
Plural
كُوفِيَّات
kūfiyyātכופיאתsound feminine plural -āt